Ice and Rip
by Nimtheriel
Summary: When RiverClan is driven from their territory, what happens to the two apprentices left behind? Set in the forest before Firestar's time.
1. Poppy Seeds and Fuzzy Fish

Rainpaw was never asked if he wanted the task. No one gave him a choice in the matter. He wasn't even sure if he was the best cat for the job, and often had doubts as to just why exactly he was selected. But when the Clan needed something badly, they didn't ask, say, Mudstreak to do it. No, on that awful, foggy morning, the leader of RiverClan approached Rainpaw and solemnly told him of his appointed task: fetching fresh bedding for the elders.

Rainpaw was not a very young apprentice. He was a full eight moons old and was ready for much more difficult things in life. Spying on ShadowClan? Gladly! Patrolling the ThunderClan border to keep out invaders? Of course! Fetching heaps of moss and old leaves to shut up Halffoot? Eh, Mistpaw can do it.

But what could an apprentice do? He bobbed his head and said that he would be happy to collect more bedding.

The river was icy from melted snow, and even Rainpaw's thick grey coat wasn't enough to keep the chill from seeping into his bones during the short journey across the river. Once across, he would have been happy to sit for a few moments and let the sun warm his fur, but the thick mist that had settled in the night before blocked most of the sun's light. Giving himself a quick shake, Rainpaw made for the ThunderClan border where there were more trees to provide leaves and moss. Trotting briskly along the riverbank, he recognized silver Mistpaw catching fish as her mentor, Bluetail, looked on. Hurriedly, he tried to veer away into the fog, but it was too late.

"Hi! Hi, Rainpaw! Hi!" Mistpaw's shrill voice never failed to annoy him, and she was such a talkative cat.

Groaning, Rainpaw slowed his pace and turned to face her. "Hello, Mistpaw. Listen, I've got to gather b-I mean, patrol the ThunderClan border, so I'll see you later." Nodding to Bluetail, he ran full speed away from the pair before Mistpaw could pester him with questions or, even worse, offer to come with.

Rainpaw reached the border without further incident and began to rake up bundles of leaves and moss with his claws, keeping an eye out for ThunderClan patrols. He soon grew bored with this task and stopped to jog over to the river. _Just one fish,_ he thought. _I'll catch one fish and come right back._

Settling on the bank, he kept an eye out for the telltale glitter of scales beneath the water. He sat, unmoving, until his muscles began to stiffen and cramp. Just as he was about to give up and go back to gathering moss, he heard a splash from upriver. Turning, Rainpaw saw something big and grey in color, winding its way towards him about a foot under the water. He crouched in preparation to spring, keeping his eyes fixed on his prey. Rainpaw noted with some nervousness that the fish was almost as big as he was. He couldn't hope to scoop it out of the water the normal way. No matter…

As it glided past him, Rainpaw leaped with claws outstretched, hitting the water with a large splash. Shockingly cold water swirled around him, tugging at his fur, and as he gripped the fish with two paws, he realized that this was not, in fact, a fish, and was actually a very furry, very wet, very _angry_ Mistpaw. He quickly released her and swam sheepishly back to the shore, where he shook himself off and allowed Mistpaw to whack him and subject him to a stream of profanities almost as fast and fierce as the river itself. Finally, as she paused for a breath, Rainpaw asked, "Done?"

Mistpaw considered, then shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose."

"You must have learned those from Stormpath. No one else even _knows_ that many."

Her whiskers twitched. "Thanks. I've been waiting for a chance to use them. Bye the way, do you know what the last one means?"

"No, and I wouldn't tell you if I did."

"Oh, well. And _why_ in StarClan's name did you do that?!"

Rainpaw sat down, embarrassed. "I thought you were a fish."

"And why would you think that?"

"Why were _you_ swimming underwater?"

Mistpaw licked her tail thoughtfully. "It might be useful when I'm a warrior. Bluetail does it." The apprentice brightened. "Can I help you patrol around? Or are you done?"

Rainpaw subconsciously shuffled backwards. "Uh, I'm all done. I was just heading back to camp."

"Great! I'll come with you!"

"No, no, that's really fine! I mean…you probably have hunting to do."

"Nope! All done!"

Rainpaw deflated. He couldn't come up with another plausible-sounding excuse on the spot. A different idea occurred to him. "Wanna help me carry this moss back?"

"Sure! Where is it?"

After carefully stuffing Mistpaw's mouth with moss and leaves, Rainpaw scooped up his own pile and they walked quickly back the camp. Strangely, he didn't mind her presence nearly so much on the return journey.

When they got back to where Mistpaw had been fishing, Bluetail was waiting for them. "Oh, you've brought some moss? Wonderful. If I have to listen to Halffoot complain about his aching back one more time…" She shook her head. "Mistpaw, excellent swimming technique. On a dark night, ThunderClan will never see you coming."

Mistpaw puffed up her chest and said, "Mrzgr frffr!" through her moss. She and Rainpaw continued downstream with Bluetail following.

When they reached camp, the two apprentices took their burdens to the elder's den, then returned outside, where the medicine cat, Leaffoot, and Rainpaw's mentor, Jadefang, stood waiting for them.

"Ah, Rainpaw. And Mistpaw, too! Wonderful. Leaffoot here needs you to do something."

"Together?" asked Rainpaw, trying not to groan out loud.

"Sure!" said Leaffoot. "I need some more poppy seeds, and if you two would be willing to go find some…?"

"Of course!" said Mistpaw happily. "I know where some are!"

"Thank you. I also know of a patch on the far side of our territory, near the WindClan border, if you need those."

"Right," muttered Rainpaw. "We'll be back soon."

* * *

Rainpaw decided that it was the way half her sentences seemed to end in a question mark that would drive him mad first. Then, he would after he became mad, he would be driven to craziness by the way she pitched her E's to sound like a trilling bird. After that, he would succumb to insanity when he remembered that they hadn't even _reached_ the poppies yet and still had an hour or so together.

"So, where's your patch of flowers?" asked Rainpaw, just to get Mistpaw to talk about something other than the Gathering she had gone to last moon.

"Well, they're not really flowers? It's just a pile of seeds?"

She was doing it again. Pitching the end of each statement to sound like a question. Rainpaw ground his teeth, then asked, "And where would we find this pile of poppy seeds?"

"I'm taking you there right now! Only, it's sort of across the border? A little?"

"What?! Why would-"

"It's in the WindClan camp! I thought it would be easier to-"

"No! We can't steal from WindClan!"

Mistpaw hung her head. "Okay…Where do we go now, though?"

"We go to the patch of poppies that Leaffoot told us about. We're going the right direction."

"Uh-huh. Okay."

They walked in silence for a little while, or, as Rainpaw thought of it, they walked inside a blessing from StarClan, who were rewarding him for his tolerance and helpfulness that day.

Soon, they could see a patch of red by the river. Mistpaw began to chatter excitedly again, and by the time they had reached the poppy plants, she wouldn't be quiet. Resigning himself to his fate, Rainpaw began to strip the flowers of their seeds and tried his best to ignore Mistpaw's chatter.

By the time they had a good pile of poppy seeds, the sun was nearing to the half-way mark of the day. Mistpaw said that they'd better go…squeak squeak squeak…Leaffoot would be mad if…squeak squeak squeak…Rainpaw, did he smell…squeak squeak squeak…Rainpaw? Rainpaw? Did he feel that?

"RAINPAW!"

"What?" he asked crossly, setting down his bundle of poppy seeds.

"Can you smell that?"

Mistpaw, he realized with a jolt, had her fur fluffed up and a very worried look in her eyes. "All I smell is poppies," Rainpaw said truthfully. "Is something wrong?"

"I smell ThunderClan," Mistpaw said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"In WindClan territ-"

"No, on our side of the border! They're _here_!"

Rainpaw bit back one of Stormpath's favorite curses. Mistpaw might be annoying, but everyone trusted her nose. "Where? Here? Or in the camp?"

"The camp, I think."

"Let's go," Rainpaw growled. "If they attack-"

"But-"

"Come on! We're wasting time!" Rainpaw seized his poppy seeds and broke into an all-out sprint. They would be too late, he knew. If ThunderClan meant to attack (which seemed likely, given their present attitude towards RiverClan), the two apprentices would arrive in the middle of the battle if it was long, and just after the battle if not.

Mistpaw had dropped her bundle and was screeching at him, something about her training-?

"I've never been in a battle before!"

Ah. That would be a problem. Most apprentices were introduced to real combat through a border skirmish. This was something different entirely.

"Just don't die!" Rainpaw shouted over his shoulder, which was all the sympathy and advice he could spare right now.

As they approached the camp, Rainpaw could smell ThunderClan scent, overwhelming everything else. He prepared to leap into the river and swim to the island, but Mistpaw grabbed his scruff and dragged him away.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted.

"Shush!" hissed Mistpaw. "Can't you smell it? There are still ThunderClan cats in the camp!"

"Exactly! We need to help in the battle!"

"No, mouse brain! Listen to what I'm saying! There are still ThunderClan cats hanging around because _we lost!_"

Rainpaw stared at her, mouth agape. "But-" And then he could smell it, too. The fear-scent and blood-scent of RiverClan cats fleeing the island and river. It took him a moment, but he could start to make out the individual smells of his Clan mates: Runningpaw, Dapplebrook, -there was Jadefang- Stormpath, Leaffoot, Stoneclaw, Streampaw, Bluetail, Halffoot, Leopardspot and her kits, Rosethorn…the whole Clan, fleeing the warriors who had attacked them with no warning, prologue, or preamble.

The apprentice's vision turned red with anger. Mistpaw seemed to have a different reaction.

"Gone," she whispered, rocking back and forth. "All of them gone."


	2. New Names, Fresh Start

"How?" Rainpaw croaked, still reeling. "How could ThunderClan drive _everyone_ away?"

"By not fighting fair, that's how," growled Mistpaw. "It smells to me like an ambush. They managed to surround the camp without our noticing." After her initial shock, the young apprentice had seemed to become collected. Her voice, once shrill and unpleasant to Rainpaw's ears, became hard and cold. A fire was lit in her young blue eyes, and she seemed to grow many moons older in a few short minutes.

Rainpaw himself felt…numb. Chilled and numb. His eyes, nose, and ears told him that his Clan was gone, off to StarClan knows where, and he and Mistpaw were left behind, but his brain seemed to insist that such a thing couldn't be true. Never before had a Clan been forced into exile, and while he supposed Silverstar might have led them to another safe place within the territory, he doubted it. ThunderClan had always been known for their fearlessness and their ability to be _thorough._ That new leader of theirs, Ravenstar, had proved to be cunning, manipulative, and ruthless. Somehow, he had managed to goad the WindClan leader into an attack on ShadowClan, leaving them weak and easily conquered, then moved against both of them and reduced their territories to half their original size within the span of four days.

"We need to leave. Now." Mistpaw's soft voice cut through Rainpaw's thoughts. Looking up, he saw two ThunderClan warriors sniffing around the island's perimeter, getting closer by the second. He leaped out of the cover of the bush they were hiding in and raced away as fast as his legs could carry him, Mistpaw right on his tail. A yowl came from behind them and he knew they were being chased. The warriors would have to make it across the part of the river on the RiverClan side of the island first, though. That would give the apprentices more time.

Rainpaw could hear the growls of their pursuers in the distance, getting rapidly closer. "Got any ideas?" he called to Mistpaw, who was overtaking him. "Yes," she answered, "but it's a crazy one."

"Great! Lead the way!"

"No, like suicidal-insane."

"…Does this have to do with the fact that you're aiming towards the gorge?"

"Yup. We cut across the river right in front of the waterfall…" She was panting now. "…and they'll either have to go further upstream before crossing…or face death by the falls…and they may not continue…the chase if they see us…heading for WindClan territory."

"Like you said: suicidal-insane."

"Got a better idea?"

"I didn't say we shouldn't go for it."

Mistpaw laughed out loud and altered her course slightly, heading for the falls.

By this time, the two ThunderClan warriors were close enough that Rainpaw could hear their heavy breathing. They were almost upon them by the time the apprentices reached the river. Only four yards from the waterfall, Mistpaw leaped with all her might into the swift-moving water, Rainpaw just behind her. For a few heart-stopping moments, he couldn't get his bearings. Then, he clawed his way to the surface, already a third of the way across. Funny, the water seemed to be moving much faster since he jumped. The waterfall was rushing up at the rate of a falling tree. Three yards to the falls…

He paddled desperately at the water, spreading his toes apart for extra surface area.

Two yards…

Trying not to fight the current, Rainpaw carefully avoided looking at the Edge of the World and shut his ears to the hissing and thudding noise getting louder and louder.

One yard…

Mistpaw was on the other bank, leaning way over to grab his scruff when he got close enough.

One foot…

Rainpaw lunged for the sloping side of the river, straining to get as far as possible. His front paws scrabbled on the muddy ground, then Mistpaw seized him by the back of his neck and hauled him out of the water. They tumbled into a heap on the ground, then shakily got to their feet and looked back across the river.

The two ThunderClan warriors stood watching them, eyes blazing. The large brown tom on the right hissed and turned away, stalking off towards the ex-RiverClan camp. His partner snarled once more at the dripping apprentices and ran after the brown tom.

Mistpaw exhaled. "Well, that was exciting."

"Yes, in the alternate reality where 'exciting' means 'almost dying'," Rainpaw said tartly. "My heart was beating so fast, I think I cracked a rib."

"Oh, come on! If you're never scared, it means you're not living properly," Mistpaw insisted.

"Right. Of course. How silly of me."

"Now," Mistpaw said, shaking herself off, "we need to find a place to plan, right?"

"And something to eat," Rainpaw said wistfully. "I still haven't had breakfast."

"And you need to get out of our territory before I rip your pelts off and throw you into the gorge," growled a voice behind them. Too late, Rainpaw detected WindClan scent.

"This is awkward," Mistpaw said, almost cheerful, looking the new arrival over. He was a dust colored tom cat with a split ear, plenty large enough to tackle two apprentices at once and send them over the falls.

Rainpaw stepped forward. "Sorry that we're, um, trespassing…we didn't steal any fresh-kill, we just had to escape the ThunderClan cats who were chasing us…"

The WindClan cat narrowed his eyes. "ThunderClan? Why would you be chased off your own territory by ThunderClan?"

"Because RiverClan is gone. We came back to our camp and it was full of their warriors, and two of them chased us away. We almost went over the falls trying to escape," said Mistpaw with a faint shudder.

"Gone?" asked the dust-colored tom. "Your whole Clan left the territory?"

"We think so; we haven't exactly gotten the chance to poke around…Please tell everyone at the next Gathering. They need to know." Rainpaw was trying hard to hide all of his emotions in front of the others.

The WindClan cat nodded. "I'll do that." He hesitated, then asked, "What are you two going to do now?"

Mistpaw looked uneasily at Rainpaw. "Follow the RiverClan scent out of the forest, I guess. We don't have much choice."

"Well, I wish you two luck. I'll talk to my leader about a possible alliance with ShadowClan to drive those oh-so-courageous mouse brains back into their own territory…it's about time we got our hunting grounds back."

"Thank you," said Mistpaw. "We'll go now." She turned and began to walk downstream, Rainpaw following.

"Where are we going?" he asked her, keeping a large gap between him and the edge of the gorge.

"Sunning rocks," Mistpaw answered shortly.

"Isn't that currently ThunderClan territory?"

"It's _all_ ThunderClan territory now. I know an abandoned fox den around their we can sit in while we make our plans."

"What's to plan? We follow the scent trail until we find the rest of RiverClan."

"Mouse brain! Do you think ThunderClan's gonna let us waltz right up to our old camp and sniff around for the trail? We need to catch it farther away. Do you remember which way the trail went?"

"No," admitted Rainpaw, "I'd need to go back."

"Right! So we need to make a wide loop around the camp to pick up the scents, then follow them until we find our Clan. But we should probably wait until nightfall. We'd be less noticeable then."

"But what if ThunderClan just left our territory after the battle? We could go right over now!"

"They need more hunting grounds-duh-so they're not gonna risk our Clan coming back in the middle of the night. They'll have all sorts of patrols for the next few days, but we have to take our chances now, otherwise the scent could go cold." She glanced nervously up at the cloudy sky. "Or it could rain."

"So, we wait until night and then go find the trail," Rainpaw summarized. "See? Planning was easy."

"But we still need to hole up until the sun goes down," Mistpaw pointed out. "So come on. We can catch some fish along the way."

* * *

It was hard to wait in a fox den all day. For one thing, there was the lingering odor of foxes and their past dinners, which helped hide the scent of the two apprentices but did nothing good for Rainpaw's sanity. For another, Mistpaw kept up a nervous stream of chatter whenever she wasn't eating. Rainpaw finally had to politely tell her to shut up or he would throw her in the river. And then, of course, there was the waiting itself. Hours and hours of sitting, pacing, grooming, and talking in the cramped hole until they both fell into a kind of dazed sleep.

When Rainpaw awoke, it was dark out, and the hissing of the nearby river seemed to have gotten a lot louder. He nudged Mistpaw, who stretched, said, "Here we go," and then immediately screeched as she looked outside the fox den.

"What?! What?!" shouted Rainpaw. Was it ThunderClan? He thrust his head past Mistpaw's and poked his nose outside.

It was raining.

"Well," he said weakly, "that's gonna put a dampener on things a bit."

Mistpaw swatted him. "That's a terrible pun! And now look! The scent trail will be completely washed away by now, even if we _did _feel like sprinting out into the rain!" She sat back down, miserable. "We'll never find them."

Rainpaw tried to comfort her, even though he privately agreed. "We'll take a look around the territory in the morning and see if they just relocated to another camp or if we can find their scent around the borders. We shouldn't give up until we know everything."

Mistpaw just sighed and curled up again at the back of the den. Rainpaw stayed awake a while longer, staring out into the rain, wondering if he would ever see his mother or siblings again.

* * *

Their search of the ex-RiverClan territory proved pointless. Whatever scent trails that may have been present before were gone, washed away in the rain. They found no other cats except for ThunderClan patrols, which they had to hide from four times. It was around the third instance of hunkering down in a bush and waiting for a group of warriors to file by that Mistpaw pointed out that there was really nothing for them to find out here, and Rainpaw reluctantly agreed. They had returned to the river near the sunning rocks to catch breakfast before retiring once more into the fox den.

Rainpaw was bored enough to talk to Mistpaw after the first hour. "So, what now?"

They had avoided this question all morning, but he knew it needed to be asked.

Mistpaw looked up from the fish skeleton she had been meticulously cleaning and reassembling. "We could go off into the wild on our own. Might get lucky."

"But if we did that, we wouldn't know if RiverClan had returned or if it was safe to come out of hiding."

"We could maybe join WindClan. They might be happy for a couple extra warriors with a reason to hate ThunderClan."

"I doubt they would accept us. We're mostly inexperienced; to them we'd just be extra mouths to feed. We don't even know how to catch a rabbit!"

"ShadowClan, then?"

Rainpaw shuddered. "I'd rather jump into the gorge."

"Aw, come on! They'r not _that_ bad! They just get a bad reputation because they live in the swamps!"

"No, I'm talking about how they eat frogs."

Mistpaw whacked him on the nose. "You're such a picky eater! Frogs aren't that different from fish, right?"

"Ever tried one? It's _slimy!_"

Mistpaw looked amused. "And when have you ever had frog?"

"It was a dare. Please don't ask."

"Alright. But we still have a pressing issue on our paws."

"Yes, how ShadowClan can survive eating nothing but frogs for weeks."

Mistpaw whacked him again. "Enough with the frogs! Be serious for once!"

Rainpaw dodged the blow and sighed. "Fine. I suppose we could stay here for a while…or go up towards Highstones."

"Not Highstones. There's not much to eat there, and if we go to the place between the forest and Highstones, we'll have the same problem with information. How do we know when to come back? Plus, I for one want to be doing something against ThunderClan to help our Clan mates out of exile. We could _try_ to be accepted into WindClan…"

Rainpaw was about to answer when a thought occurred to him. It was a single word and summed up what they, two apprentices without proper training or Clan, could do against Ravenstar's warriors. _Espionage._ And then: _Sabotage._

Rainpaw rolled the idea around in his mind for another moment, then said, "We don't have to join another Clan to hurt those mouse brains. We can do hit-and-run missions: raiding their fresh kill piles, leading patrols on wild goose chases into WindClan territory, spooking their guards in the middle of the night, that sort of thing. We could live here, in this den, and do raids at night. It doesn't have to stop ThunderClan, just weaken them enough for WindClan and ShadowClan to take them out."

Mistpaw thought about this. "Wouldn't that be abandoning our Clan? Becoming…loners?" She didn't sound scornful, just curious.

Rainpaw hesitated. "Technically, they abandoned _us_. Leaffoot and Jadepelt knew where we were, but they didn't come find us before leaving. And we wouldn't really be loners, just outcasts. And someday RiverClan will come back, and we can be a part of it again."

"Someday," murmured Mistpaw. She sounded as old as Rosethorn. "_Some_day."

Regaining her spark, she chirped, "Sounds good, but we need new names."

Rainpaw could only stare. "We _what_?!"

"Oh, come on! If we're going to be loners or spies or whatever, we need new names! Like Claw or Wolf or something! No one will take us seriously if we have apprentice names."

She had a point, however silly the idea was. If ThunderClan was never defeated, Rainpaw didn't want to die with an apprentice name. If they were going to be loners, they might as well act like it. Plus, he figured that Mistpaw would forget about her name scheme within a few days, tops. She was very young, after all. "Alright, I'll be Rain and you can be Mist. Now, we should-"

"But that's not creative!" protested the unnamed silver cat. "Come on, let's put some thought into it!" She was quiet for a minute, then said, "I can be Ice. It matches my fur color, and I feel all cold and hard since RiverClan left."

The ex-Rainpaw was about to protest that she certainly didn't _act_ cold or hard, but then remembered the moment before when she sounded like she was a million moons old. _Someday._ Suddenly, the unofficial naming ceremony gained a lot more meaning for him. He thought about what he would like to be called for the rest of his life, if it came to that.

"I'll be Riptide."

"What's that? It sounds like a warrior name. We're supposed to-"

"Yes, I know. Don't you remember the loner that was a friend of Silverstar's, who came to our camp a few moons ago and talked about the Sundrown place? He said that along the coast, you can get underwater rivers that grab you without warning and drag you out into deep waters."

The newly-christened Ice thought about that for a moment. "Yes, very fitting with this whole loner-spy thing. Good. That's decided then." She stretched and licked a paw. "Ice and Rip," she mused. "Has a nice ring to it."

"No, it's _Riptide_," Riptide patiently explained.

"That doesn't _flow_, though. It sounds all stiff and formal. Now, _Rip_ will strike fear into your enemies' hearts."

"It sounds silly," sniffed Riptide.

"Too late," said Ice happily. "I can't think of your name being anything else. That means you have to keep it!"

"No it-" started Rip, then sighed. There was no point in arguing. "Fine. Call me whatever you what. My name is still Riptide, though."

"Of course," said Ice seriously. "Now, then. We need to make personal symbols."

"_What?! No!_ This is ridiculous!" screeched Rip. "Why would we need-?"

"To write on the ground or cave walls when we do a raid so they know it's us! Come on, _tell_ me you didn't consider this when you came up with the loner-spy thing!"

"I didn't! _Why_ would you want them to know it's us?!"

"Because it would infuriate them! Unknown cats raiding them periodically, never getting caught!…Or just a bunch of fresh kill that goes missing and some patrols that chased a couple of apprentices into WindClan territory."

"It's dangerous."

"It's _excellent_! It's stylish!"

Rip gave a wordless moan and sat down. "I give up. Mostly because I know that nothing I say will keep you from scratching 'Ice wuz here' into the dirt every time we steal ThunderClan fresh kill."

* * *

_**Nim here- Hi! Finally, another chapter! Hope you like it :) I'll try to post a new one as often as I can, but with school coming up, things could get inconsistent. Please bear with me…**_

_**Things will get more exciting from here…probably. This story writes itself; I'm just the one typing it. Hope the name transition wasn't too odd…Thank you for reading, and please review! Ideas welcome!**_


	3. Mulberries, the Bane of ThunderClan

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the Warriors world. The characters are all my own, and any similarities to any cats living, dead, fictional, and/or undead are purely coincidental.**_

* * *

"So, how do you like it?" asked Ice, finishing her scribble on the floor with a flourish.

Rip looked at what she had drawn: A bundle of sticks over a zigzag line. "What is it?"

"It's a snowflake over some waves! It's our symbol!"

Rip gave a tiny groan. She was so enthusiastic about this. _Pick your battles._ "I'm not sure it's recognizable enough. Maybe try a single wave and a simpler snowflake."

"Okay!" Ice went happily back to work, carving lines into the dusty ground with a claw. She was having trouble with the wave; she hadn't seen that many. Rip watched her working with slightly glazed eyes. The ex-apprentice had been working on their "symbol" for a long time, too long in his opinion. He should have let her go with "Ice wuz here" and save everyone involved a world of trouble.

"Well, you seem to have this under control," Rip said, rising to his paws. "I'll go out and catch some fish." He hurried out of the fox den before she could object. Once out of earshot from the entrance, he took a deep breath of fresh air, sniffing the breeze for signs of enemies. Only the scent of rain-dampened earth and the stale smell of ThunderClan met his nose.

Reassured, Rip approached the river in a spot where he was used to catching fish by, back when he had a Clan. He settled in to wait.

* * *

Ice rubbed out her latest snowflake. It didn't look like anything, really. She knew Rip thought she was being silly, and maybe she was, but ThunderClan needed to know why their fresh kill was going missing and who was taking it. No way would Rip let her show herself or talk to Ravenstar, and this was the next best thing. Ice couldn't quite place a claw on why it was so important to her to be recognized. Maybe it was because of what had happened to her Clan. Maybe she wanted Ravenstar to know that his actions had consequences, and one of them was named Ice.

Maybe she just wanted to be remembered and feared.

Whatever it was that made Ice want to be recognized, she felt like she needed to leave a signature, a mark to show that it had been Ice and Riptide who had wreaked havoc upon ThunderClan. Hence the symbol.

Ice sighed as she looked down at the mess of a snowflake on the floor. She swept it away with a paw and began again. Maybe Rip had a point. Maybe this was hopeless. She remembered what he had said about making the snowflake simpler and scuffed out a few lines. Now if she added a couple of branches on the end…

Soon, she wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. She was thinking about her life in RiverClan, especially her youngest memories.

_It had been when she stole one of the little silver fish from the fresh kill pile as a kit. Her mother found her behind the nursery, playing with it and poking it with her claws. Snowfall had scolded and berated Mistkit, taking away the fish and returning it to the pile in the center of camp. "Prey is killed only to be eaten. Give thanks to StarClan for its life." _

_ The white queen had looked her kit over, then carried her back into the nursery. "I think it's time for you to learn the Warrior Code. Don't worry-you won't have to memorize it until you are apprenticed." Settling the curious Mistkit down in a bed of soft moss, Snowfall had proceeded to teach her daughter how a proper warrior acts._

_ "The Warrior Code is something all cats of the forest must obey."_

_ "Why must they obey? Can't they do what they want?"_

_ "They could, but it would unbalance the power in the forest. Then things would dissolve into chaos, battle fought after battle fought, deaths from all Clans, and eventually, even if a single leader took over the forest, they would have an empty title. For StarClan would turn their faces from any cat who broke the Warrior Code. Our ancestors decided that the Code would be the laws of the forest, and the law must be respected if there is to be any order. Now hush while I tell you of the fifteen commands left to us by the four Great Leaders."_

_ "Thunder, Shadow, Wind, and River, right?"_

_ "Yes, but I said not to interrupt. Now, the first command is as follows: Defend your Clan, even with your life. You may have friendships with cats from other Clans, but your loyalty must remain to your Clan, as one day you may meet those friends in battle. The second command…"_

_ And so Mistkit heard the Warrior Code for the first time, all the way down to "A warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet"._

Ice looked down at her scrawlings and saw a perfect line drawing of a snowflake. Her whiskers twitched. _Now for the wave._

She recited the Warrior Code as she drew, reminding herself of why she was fighting ThunderClan. Just because she was a loner (or something) now didn't mean she should ignore the laws laid down by her ancestors. In fact, she was following the Code better than Ravenstar! Never had a Clan driven another from its territory. It wasn't allowed. Hopefully ShadowClan and WindClan could work together to bring ThunderClan back into its rightful place, and then perhaps Ice and Rip could go in search of RiverClan.

Ice stared at her wave. It didn't look quite right…Maybe Rip could help her with it when he got back from fishing. She stretched, working cramped muscles, then padded quietly out of the fox den. Since they were on ThunderClan territory, the two loners tried to stay out of sight as much as possible in their hole, but it got extremely tedious and dull, not to mention stuffy. Ice made a mental note to enlarge the burrow as soon as possible, and maybe scatter some sweet-smelling herbs on the floor.

The young loner sniffed the air and her blood ran as cold as her name. Fresh ThunderClan scent, not an hour old. Rip had been away for a while…Where would he have gone to fish? Ice was panicking now, scenting the air at a furious rate, trying to locate her friend.

That place where they had met, just yesterday. Where he pounced on her and tried to claim she was a fish. Would he have gone back there? Ice broke into a run. The ThunderClan scent was getting stronger.

* * *

Rip was reasonably good at fishing. There wasn't all that much to it, really. You just waited on the banks until you saw a fish or two, then scooped them out of the water if they were close and pounced on them if they weren't. Within the first several minutes, he caught two small fish and a half hour later had spotted a large one downstream. Getting as close as he could, Rip coiled his muscles and-WHAM! A large, furry force collided with him, nearly sending him into the river. Flailing his tail to regain his balance, Rip spun around to face-

"Ice, why would you _do_ that?!"

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, her voice gaining an octave in nervousness. "I didn't see you until you were right there and then I couldn't stop and then I-"

Rip couldn't help it. He started to laugh. She made such an amusing picture, fur all fluffed up and eyes wide with unnecessary worry. "You should hear yourself. You'd put a blackbird to shame. What's the rush, anyways?"

"ThunderClan scent!" Ice said hurriedly. "It's fresh! I came to find you because they're really close."

"Got that right," came a low growl from behind them.

Rip sighed audibly. "Why, oh why does this keep happening to us?"

"We need to start looking over our shoulders more often," agreed Ice, turning around.

The ThunderClan patrol was made up of five cats: three warriors and two apprentices. None of them looked very happy.

"Hi," said Ice, praying to StarClan that they wouldn't attack. "We were…standing here. All done with that now. We'll be going." She began to edge away from the patrol, hoping to make it to the river.

"And I suppose it's a coincidence that you were standing next to a pile of recently deceased fish?" asked the cat who looked to be the patrol leader.

There were any number of responses Ice could have given to that, from "Oh, I didn't see those there!" to "Yeah, you caught us" to "Fish? What fish?" Her brain, however, seemed to snap under the strain of the situation, and instead she screamed, "MULBERRIES! FALLING FROM THE SKY!" and fled.

Rip was a step behind her, but luckily the patrol seemed to be somewhat dazedly confused by Ice's outburst, and didn't give chase until a split second later. One of the apprentices even looked up at the sky with a befuddled expression, tripping the warrior behind him.

Rip was running flat out just behind her. "WindClan!" he shouted, and Ice nodded in agreement. They changed course slightly, heading for the border.

Ice recalled the last time she had been chased by ThunderClan into WindClan territory. Hopefully, this episode would end just as well.

_Zoom! _Past the Owl Tree!

_Zoom!_ Past Fourtrees!

_Zoom!_ Into WindClan territoy!

_Zoom! _Past a startled patrol of WindClan warriors!

Wait, what?

"Stop!" shouted Rip. They both skidded to a halt and turned. The two patrols were going at it fire and lightning, screeching and slashing.

"Here," Rip told Ice with the tone of a mentor, "you have your typical border skirmish. It would be good practice for us to join in. What do you say?"

Ice looked fearfully at the horde of fighting cats. "Um…"

"Excellent! Come on, then!" Rip said happily, leaping into the fray. Ice followed reluctantly.

She dodged beneath an apprentice of an unidentified Clan and slashed at the ThunderClan patrol leader. He snarled and turned to face her, tossing aside a WindClan warrior like a leaf.

_Oops._

Ice leaped away from his first blow and raked her claws across his face. He swept her paws out from underneath her with a powerful foreleg and lunged toward her unprotected belly. The ThunderClan warrior landed a vicious bite before Ice could kick him away. Squirming back to her feet, the loner darted under the larger cat's stomach and slashed him twice with her claws before backing away hurriedly to avoid the swipe aimed at her shoulder. Ice nearly tripped over a prone ThunderClan apprentice, allowing her opponent to leap forward again, jaws gleaming.

He never reached her.

There was a hoarse battle cry off to Ice's right and Rip streaked past her, no _over_ her, landing on the ThunderClan warrior's back. Their enemy's legs buckled and his fangs sank into the damp soil beneath him. Rip scrabbled with his claws to regain his footing, leaving deep scores across the larger warrior's flank.

Before Ice could engage him again, another ThunderClan cat, this one an apprentice, slashed her side. The loner swept both paws around smashed them into her new opponent. The she-cat's head snapped to one side and she fell into a dazed heap. Ice's belly wound throbbed as she backed away from her fallen foe.

"Hah!" came Rip's voice, then a deeper voice yowling, "ThunderClan, retreat!"

The patrol leader sprinted away from the few remaining combatants, half of which detached themselves from the fight to follow. Ice's apprentice pal staggered to her feet and ran after her Clan mates. Soon, only WindClan warriors remained, jeering and yowling insults at the fleeing cats. Ice and Rip found each other quickly and exited the scene before the victors could notice them, swimming across the river and lying low in the reeds on the opposite bank. When the WindClan patrol turned to leave, Ice and Rip made their way quietly and quickly back to the Sunning Rocks.

"That was too close," Ice sighed as she ducked inside the fox den.

"But it was a good start, at least," Rip said, licking a slice in his shoulder. "Oh, and we should get some medicinal supplies soon. Cobwebs at the very least."

"It can be our first raid!" Ice said eagerly. She was anxious to leave the first mark.

"We can't steal things from a _medicine cat_! That's just…That's playing at _their_ level!"

"Fine, it can be a quick, anonymous little scavenge. We'll just take a little bit of whatever we need. I won't even leave our symbol behind, so they'll never know it happened." Ice was disappointed about this, but she agreed with RIp-at least partly. Taking away a Clan's supply of herbs and remedies was _wrong_, even if it wasn't in the Warrior Code anywhere.

"Oh, and I never did show you the final results! See what you think of it!" Ice scrabbled about on the floor for a moment, then said, "Here it is! Do you like it?"

Rip looked down at "their" symbol. It was much more recognizable than the previous attempts. The snowflake was good, resting inside the curve of the wave, which could use a bit of work. He smudged out a line and redrew it. "There. Perfect. Now you can start scratching into trees and whatever."

"Great! I just need to practice it so I can do it as we're fleeing the crime scene…" Ice looked down at her sluggishly bleeding belly, which flared with pain at being noticed. "Ah…"

"Forget the raid, you need something for that _now_," said Rip, looking concerned. "I'll go find some cobwebs, you stay here. I might be awhile."

Ice began to protest, but he left before she could get the first word out. With a sigh, she flopped down next to the Official Logo of Ice & Rip and began to lick the bite mark on her stomach. That's what you were supposed to do, right? Lick the wound to clean it out? Or were you supposed to leave it alone? Ice couldn't remember, and now she wished she had attempted to learn more about the ways of a medicine cat. In hindsight, she realized that a Clan should probably teach all their apprentices some first aid so that a warrior on the battlefield could safe his or her friend's life instead of helplessly watching them die because they didn't know which herbs were good for wound treatment. Someday, Ice would learn about herbs and that stuff. Maybe WindClan would allow her to speak with a medicine cat sometime…maybe at the Gathering! That was coming up soon, right? She couldn't remember what the phase of the moon had been before this whole ordeal had come about, and last night it had been raining. Tonight she would see how close the moon was to being full. And then convince Rip that she needed to go to the Gathering. Speaking of Rip…

He squirmed inside the den awkwardly, one paw wrapped in white gauzy spider webs. Small bits of leaves and dirt clung to the mess. "Do you know if we're supposed to, like, clean these or something?" he asked Ice. "Because the webs our medicine cat used were always fresh and unsoiled."

"I'm sure Leaffoot took all of his cobwebs to the Moonstone to be purified in StarClan's light," Ice said seriously. "Now get over here and stick your unholy spider gunk on me. Wow, that sounded _so_ wrong."

Rip stepped up beside her and hesitated, tugging the cobwebs with a claw. "Is there some way to do this properly, or-"

Ice rolled her eyes, snatched a chunk of spider silk, and smoothed it over her wound in a rough approximation of a bandage. "There. All better."

She settle down again, Rip beside her. She paused for a moment, listening to the sound of the breeze through the bushes outside, before saying, "I had another crazy idea."

"Crazier than mulberries falling from the sky?"

"No! Well, maybe." Ice began to explain to Rip about how she wanted to go to the Gathering.

He listened without saying a word as she laid out her reasons. Finally, he said, "I thought we were trying to stay low, out of sight."

"It's a _Gathering_! What's ThunderClan going to do, attack me?"

"They would probably claim that as a loner, the sacred peace agreement didn't extend to you."

"But with the other two Clans there, they wouldn't-"

"It's risky, foolish, and you'll probably end up in a fight," Rip said flatly.

Ice deflated. He was right, of course. It was a silly and ridiculous idea.

"Which is why I'll be coming with you."

She was speechless afor a moment, then squealed in excitement. "My second Gathering ever! This is going to be so much fun!"

"There's the Mistpaw we know," laughed Rip.

"It's Ice now, thank you very much," she sniffed.

The den was silent for a moment, but then someone's stomach gurgled, reminding them that they hadn't had breakfast yet. "Well, I suppose that's _us_ told," muttered Rip.

"Hmm," said Ice, "I wonder if those mul-I mean, _fish_ are still there."

* * *

_**Nim here-Another chapter! I don't know what it says about me that I have time for multiple chapters in a week, but I'm willing to bet it's not very flattering. Anyways, a big thank you to the people who have reviewed so far! I'd love to hear any ideas you guys might have! Also, please let me know if I make a mistake with something (besides grammar! Although I suppose you could let me know about that as well). I usually have to write these chapters with half of my screen showing TextEdit, the other half showing the Warriors Wiki.**_

_**Hope this chapter didn't ramble too much. Thanks for reading!**_

**_EDIT: Bit of updating! Not much, but some. Also, Ice and Rip now has 100 views! Thanks for reading everyone!_**


	4. Gathering

Rip shifted his weight, trying to quiet the cramps in his legs. He and Ice were both in trees where they could look down at the ThunderClan camp. It wasn't the safest thing to do, but they were trying to gather as much information about their enemies as possible, and this meant spying. So far, they had learned that Ravenstar liked to eat sparrows, squirrels are _very_ annoying, and ThunderClan was going to launch an all-out attack on WindClan within a moon.

Ice was making a mental map of the camp so raids would go smoother. She could tell that Rip was excited as her for the upcoming fun, but he seemed to be excited in the alternate reality sense of "afraid of almost dying". It was a pity, really. Ice sighed thinking about it. _She_ had no fears.

Nothing much was happening in the ThunderClan camp now. Ravenstar was talking quietly to his deputy, but Ice couldn't hear them. She supposed they were discussing the upcoming battle or something. It gave her some satisfaction to know that in a few weeks, those two would be talking about her and Rip in hushed tones, trying frantically to decide a plan of action. _Ice and Rip, Bane of ThunderClan._ Had a nice ring to it.

Rip waved his tail to get her attention. "I don't think we'll be learning anything more any time soon," he said. "We might as well leave before the sun sets and get ready for the Gathering."

Ice wriggled in excitement. Not only would they be seeing (relatively) friendly Clan cats soon, she could finally get out of this blasted tree. It was uncomfortable and difficult to move around on, and you had to be balancing at all times which quickly wore down your strength. Ice also had no love of heights. If cats had been made to be this high up, then StarClan would have given them wings long ago. Her whiskers twitched in amusement as she jumped to a lower branch. Flying cats-now _there_ would be a good way to spy on ThunderClan. Ice grimaced at the drop to the ground. Easy enough to climb, jarring and painful to get down.

The two loners had been coming to the tree for two days now, ever since they had agreed to go to the Gathering. It was useful, Ice supposed, but looking straight down from her branch at the forest floor made her queasy.

She gave a shudder at the height, then launched herself from the branch. For a brief moment, she _was_ a flying cat, then her paws hit the dead leaves of the forest floor. She tried to land gracefully like Rip always did, but instead of alighting on the ground like some delicate bird, she thumped stiff-legged and painfully onto the soil and sometimes bit various parts of her mouth. This time was no exception. The painful flare in her paws made her wince and think longingly of the nice cool river.

Rip was soon beside her, and they set off for the fox den. Over the past couple of days, they had managed to enlarge it significantly. The mouth was still small enough to belay suspicion, but the inside was now roomy enough to squish in four warriors-plenty big enough for two young apprentices. Ice had found some whiskered by the river, which served no medicinal purpose but smelled nice. Anyone close enough to sniff the burrow would find it odd that it smelled of herbs, but the scent would hopefully mask that of Ice and Rip and certainly fulfilled its intent of erasing the fox stench.

Rip settled down near the den entrance. He felt jittery and restless like he did before a battle (so he had only been in two as a Clan cat…it counts), and Ice prattling on about some WindClan apprentice she had met a moon ago didn't help. "…I mean, she was small and kind of shy-looking but she just walked right up to me and asked me if I knew the TigerClan stripe story! She could really talk well, too; she had a nice voice and told the story like it was happening all around us! It was fascinating! Maybe all the Clans should have a cat be a storyteller, and they can spread around new…tales! Of adventure and romance and stuff! I like the adventure stuff better, don't you? Romance is kinda boring and sometimes gross but everyone else seems to like it and it _sounds_ dramatic, so maybe I should try to like it. Do you like romance, Rip? The stories?"

"My name isn't Rip," he said distractedly. "It's Riptide-the current that takes one by surprise."

Ice snorted. "Sounds all poetic and gushy. I bet you _do_ like romance!"

"It's an acquired taste," Riptide said loftily. He didn't really know what it meant, but it sounded smart and alright, maybe he _did _like some romance stories. But not the sad ones where everyone dies. Well, maybe those too.

"Meh," sniffed Ice. "I like stories with _action_! Stories where you're afraid that the characters die because they feel like real people to you! Those are the stories that really matter! They stick with you, you know? Like the Epic of the Tale of Moonstream the Wise and Her Magic Feather!"

"You made that up," accused Rip.

"Didn't!" Ice said gleefully. "Well, the Epic part. And I added in the Magic Feather. It would be so much better with a magic feather, don't you think?"

"It's getting late," Rip said suddenly. "We should go over the plan again, then leave."

"Oh. Okay." Ice pouted. "But I get to tell the Revised Epic of the Tale of Moonstream and Her Magic Feather at the Gathering, right?"

"…Fine."

* * *

Firestar (no relation to Firestar II) paced back and forth in the shadows of the clearing. Ravenstar would call the Gathering to attention soon, and he had to make his decision fast. He either told ShadowClan about why RiverClan wasn't coming, or he didn't. Ravenstar was no fool-he would take out any Clan who questioned him, who tried to unite the remaining leaders. If he brought up the topic, he might be able to forge an alliance with Starstar-terrible name, that-or he might provoke Ravenstar into all-out war.

"Why are you troubled?" came a voice behind him. It was sweet and flutey, like wind whistling through reeds. Firestar (no relation) looked up and sighed with relief. "Willowtail." Just looking at her slight, silver form and hearing her voice could make him feel better. Trust her to see him slinking off into the shadows and decide to comfort him.

"Is there any way in which I can help?" Willowtail was not the sort of cat who would scream, "Are you alright?!" if you fell into the gorge. She was the sort who wouldn't waste words on questions that were useless. If she offered help, she meant to give it.

"No," murmured Firestar (no relation), and then, "Yes. I can't seem to make a decision. I either inform the Clans that Ravenstar has driven RiverClan from their land and risk making an enemy of his Clan but gain a chance at allying Starstar, or I remain silent on the matter and risk division with ShadowClan."

Willowtail walked closer, her natural scent sweetened by the herbs she had been handling. Willowtail was not the medicine cat of WindClan but she would have done well as one. Another apprentice had wanted the position and voiced his opinion first. The leader at the time had given it to him. "It would seem to me that the choice is a fairly easy one. We need an alliance with ShadowClan no matter what if RiverClan does not return. Take the risk and accept the consequences as they come." Another step closer. She was within a tail length of him. "Firestar, you need to stop thinking so much about these things. You'll injure yourself mentally if you stay at this stress level."

A shiver ran through the WindClan leader. "Do not call me that. Please. Not when there's no one else to hear us."

Willowtail stopped walking. "Why?" she asked simply.

A short laugh escaped Firestar (no relation). "I never thought I would hear you ask a question like that. It doesn't seem that anyone would gain a thing if you knew _why_."

"I need to understand you. You are a leader…Firestorm…whether you asked for it or not. I need to know _why_ so I can begin to understand _who_." She regarded him in a suddenly distant manner, like he was a remedy for Greencough not quite complete yet.

Willowtail never failed to surprise him-no, _surprise_ isn't the right word. Perhaps somewhere out there, there was a word for "confuses and clarifies and shocks and cover his mind with cobwebs of a sweet and delicate smell", but Firestar (no relation) hadn't yet discovered it. He noticed that she had used his warrior name, as he had asked, but she was right. It didn't make him feel any better. At least the other advice she had given him was sound and reasonable.

"I…I must go," he said, regretting it. There were never any moments like this, not in the past, not in the foreseeable future, with the full moon lighting the forest and the shadows pulled about them like a pair of wings…her sweet scent wrapping around him, tugging him closer. Her breathing smooth and faint. Was her heart beating with all the speed of a fierce battle? Did she feel dizzy when she talked to him? Firestar (no relation) was suddenly glad that Willowtail hadn't become a medicine cat.

He hurried away, fearful that if he didn't leave now, he never would.

The WindClan leader strode amongst the gathered cats and saw Ravenstar spring to the top of the Great Rock, followed shortly by Starstar (his warrior name had, sadly, been Starfur). Firestar (no relation) was last to scale it. The murmur of the surrounding cats died to a whisper, then vanished entirely.

"Cats of all Clans-" began Ravenstar, but he got no further than that.

"You mean all Clans except RiverClan!" yowled an unidentified figure in the back. "Where are they?"

Ravenstar sighed a bit, then continued. "Cats of all Clans, we gather here tonight in peace to discuss recent events. Do not worry about RiverClan; I have it from Silverstar herself that her Clan has been inconvenienced and will not be attending this Gathering. She was rather tight-lipped about the particulars."

Now was his chance. Firestar (no relation) took a tiny step forward. He swallowed dryly. What if he couldn't convince them? Ravenstar opened his mouth again, preparing to move on with the meeting.

The WindClan leader could feel two silver eyes fixed to him. There was Willowtail, staring up at him with an unreadable expression.

"Actually, that's not so."

The voice coming from Firestar's mouth was smooth and exactly the right volume. This surprised him, but he tried to continue as if he had meant to speak at all. "Not one week past, a warrior of mine was on hunting patrol, alone by the river. There he encountered two apprentices from RiverClan who had just swum across to escape a ThunderClan patrol in their own territory. The story they told my warrior was most remarkable. They said they had been the only members of their Clan to escape the early-morning raid on their camp and not a river-faring soul remained in the territory. I found the news intriguing and led a patrol myself to inspect the borders a day later. The only RiverClan scents we found were stale or washed away by the rain. ThunderClan smell, however, was scrawled across the landscape like a berry stain. We-"

"A pretty tale," sneered Ravenstar, "but you have no proof to back it. Yes, it is true that my Clan attacked RiverClan that day, but they are still within their territory last I checked-and I make checking these things my business-with all Clan members accounted for, I should think. Perhaps your two apprentices were distraught or believed their Clan had gone missing, or perhaps they lied outright to turn you against my Clan."

"Then why aren't they at this Gathering?" called out Willowtail. "RiverClan would never stay away from such a sacred meeting without a very good excuse-such as not being present in the forest at the time."

_I knew I liked her for something,_ Firestar thought. Before he could add to her statements, Ravenstar began again.

"I do not know why RiverClan is not present, but I am sure they had a reason besides some fanciful tale of-"

"That's a lie."

The voice was new, young, and not spoken from the group of gathered cats. All eyes turned to the second tallest of the four trees, from behind which a grey apprentice strode, looking determined. A slightly smaller silver apprentice with a similar expression followed.

"That's them," murmured someone from the crowd, quite probably the tom cat who had threatened to throw the pair in the gorge a few days ago.

"My name," said the leader of the two, before the chatter could start again, "used to be Rainpaw. She used to be Mistpaw." He paused for an appropriate length of time, then continued. "But that was back when we still had a Clan. We do not know where our friends and family have gone to, chased from the territory by ThunderClan, but they _are_ gone. Only we remain."

A whispering shudder passed through the crowd. Ravenstar tried to say something, but the silver apprentice overrode him. "We could not find the scent trails to follow our Clan to exile after the rainstorm. We decided to remain in the forest instead. And we will do whatever it takes to see RiverClan return to the forest." She then looked Ravenstar straight in the eyes, her expression cold. "I am Ice."

The grey tom mirrored her. "I am Riptide."

"Fear us, for those without a Clan have nothing to hold back." They spoke the last line in a perfect, monotone unison. The whole thing might not have worked, coming from two apprentices, but the clearing had gone deathly quiet, the moon was full and large in the sky, and a bit of a mist had sprung up. The whole effect was rather breathtaking.

Ice was glad they had rehearsed this. She didn't think they could have pulled it off otherwise. She had argued with Rip about the lines, saying they were too dramatic, but he had said it was all mostly to stir ThunderClan up and teach them to fear the Symbol, which had somehow become a capitalized thing in the past few days.

The sudden appearance of the two apprentices seemed to have convinced ShadowClan and WindClan of ThunderClan's treachery. Ice hoped it would stick with them.

"This is ridiculous!" hissed Ravenstar. "You cannot simply come here expect us to believe what you say!"

"Believe what you wish," said Ice casually, as if it couldn't matter less to her. "Come to what used to be RiverClan's hunting grounds and see it for yourself."

The cats muttered amongst themselves and kept shooting glances at Ravenstar, their expressions angry or suspicious. The ThunderClan cats kept insisting that it was all lies, plain as day. No one seemed to believe them.

"Treacherous loner scum!" hissed Ravenstar. "You try to mislead them with your stories and tarnish the name of the most respectable Clan in the forest!"

"Funny, that's what _I _ was going to say to you." Rip couldn't keep it in. "Give it up. No one is listening to you anymore. Go back to your camp and plan your silly attack on WindClan." He smirked at the leader's expression. Everyone else turned to stare at him. "Oh, yes, I suppose you were keeping that a secret. Oops."

Ice addressed Firestar (no relation) directly. "ThunderClan was planning to attack you next, probably to send you after RiverClan. Not sure what they'll do now, though."

Ravenstar arched his back and growled at the two apprentices.

"That's our exit cue," whispered Rip. After a look of mocking pity at the spitting ThunderClan leader, Ice and Rip stalked off into the forest again.

"C'mon, he'll undoubtably send warriors after us," said Ice, breaking into a run.

Rip nodded. "Let's go by way of the river. Make them hunt for our scent."

Ice gasped. "Our scent! I completely forgot about that! Now they know exactly what we smell like!"

"Oh, StarClan, you're right," muttered Rip. "And now all they have to do is sniff around the Sunning Rocks and they'll find it smeared all around the den."

"We have to move. Leave the den. It was never a good base camp anyways."

Rip said nothing.

* * *

It was, of course, Ice's idea.

"One raid, swipe all their feshkill, and then we vanish into thin air. It'll be great!"

"But why would you want to go there?" Rip asked repeatedly. "What could we possibly learn by going to the Moonstone?"

"We need to know what StarClan wants. And I need to know if anyone from RiverClan…" she trailed off, but Rip could see what she was getting at.

"I'm sure they're all fine. Leaffoot'll have 'em patched up and healed in no time."

"Still…"

"Alright, fine. It will be good to keep out of their sights for a little while after the first raid."

"Plus, we could learn something important! I wonder who StarClan is backing; us or ThunderClan?"

Rip gazed at the rising sun. "Us, I should think. No Clan is supposed to push another out of its territory."

"A comforting thought."

Ice smiled at the perfect sunrise from her perch in the tree. It was lovely, all red and gold. It felt like a promise: whatever the end of the road she and RIp were on, it would be a thrilling ride.

* * *

_**Nim here-Finally, chapter four! Wow, I didn't think it would take over two weeks to get it out! I guess I'm just busy with school starting up again and the other fan fiction that I'm writing…No, it's not another Warriors one! Thank you to everyone who has commented or posted a review-I like hearing your opinions, thoughts, suggestions, or all-caps rants. I did some experimenting with the Firestar (no relation) POV, hope you liked it!**_


	5. To Mothermouth

Ice was disappointed with how the Gathering had proceeded. She knew Rip was pleased-after all, they had helped alert ShadowClan to Ravenstar's threat-but she had mostly wanted to consult a medicine cat, maybe arrange a trade of freshkill for herbs and clean cobwebs. Still, they had accomplished something, of that she could be sure. Next up, a simple raid on the ThunderClan food supply and a trip to the Moonstone.

"And then we should perhaps move out of the den," Rip said. "I don't care how well-disguised the entrance can be, some day a ThunderClan cat will see us going in or out and that will be that. Better to move before we're forced to." And there was nothing Ice could argue with in his reasoning. The Sunning Rocks shelter had been temporary, now it was time to move on. They could find a new home after they visited the Moonstone. It made Ice a bit sad, but such was the life of a loaner.

Today the life of a loner was seeming like less of an exciting adventure and more of a homeless shamble in the constant, dreary, miserable, and very wet rain.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" sang Rip, shoving a nose already chilled and damp into Ice's once pleasantly dry fur. She groaned and rolled over, turning her back to him. She could hear the rain bucketing down outside. No sane cat would go out in such a downpour, but they were RiverClan and of RiverClan blood and didn't mind getting wet. Or so Rip told Ice as he coaxed her carefully from her sleep and out into the pitch-black, rainy night.

There was, thought Ice as she trudged along miserably behind Rip, all the difference in the world between being wet on a sunny day and being wet in the rain. The rain felt nothing like being in the river and the feeling of water droplets striking and sliding down her damp fur somehow felt _wetter_ than being submerged in a creek.

The ThunderClan camp wasn't all that far, but the distance stretched out in the dark and the rain and the wind. Ice halfheartedly suggested that they turn back after what felt like an hour. But for each one of her reasons why a nice warm den would be better than this, Rip cheerfully pointed out a reason why they should keep going.

"The rain is so thick, I can't see a thing."

"And neither can the ThunderClan cats. We can walk in, take what we want. The rain also prevents them from smelling or hearing us."

"We could catch a cough from being out in this."

"Which means that everyone is in their dens. So much easier for us."

"Any freshkill we find will be sodden."

"It's not the skin and fur that matters, and that tends to be waterproof."

"What if we're caught?"

"We can at least get out of the rain."

Ice fell into silence. Rip was glad. Hopefully she'd think that the rain and the prospect of capture didn't bother him. He needed to be strong for her. She was too old for her age, forced to grow up before her body did, and for some reason that seemed like the greatest of Ravenstar's crimes. _I'll be old for you, Ice._ It was then that Riptide realized that he already was. Moons and moons had gone by, a whole lifetime, since Rainpaw had tried to avoid a fellow apprentice because she talked too much.

"Ice?" He could see-or he thought he could see-her shape through the curtain of rain around them. It was lucky they had traveled this path often on spying missions.

"What, Rip?"

"My name is Riptide."

"Whatever Rip. Did you need something?"

_Yes,_ he wanted to say, _we should go back. It's too wet, it's too dark, it's too dangerous._

_I'll be old for you._

"No, just checking to make sure you were still there. Hard to tell sometimes in this mess." It was hard to be strong, too hard. Being old wasn't the same, and it was harder to reverse, but it was all Rip could manage. Maybe they _were_ the same thing.

They walked in silence again, but it wasn't a quiet silence. Their breathing mingled with the hiss and patter of rain on leaves and the steady _squish, shlahh, squish, shlahh_ of their footsteps on the muddy ground. Riptide finally had to break the barrier between them, so clear and hard and soft like the river. "I hope RiverClan has a den over their heads tonight."

Ice didn't even hesitate. "I'm sure they do," she stated, so confidently that Rip could only wonder if she knew something more than he did.

"I had a dream," his friend confessed. "I saw Silverstar leading everyone to a...a stone...thing...with..." Ice struggled to find words for what she had seen. "It was a thunderpath, a really big one, up in the sky, with stone trees holding it up. There were other thunderpaths around it and under it, on the ground. The Clan was sheltering under the sky thunderpath."

"Ah," said Rip, because he didn't know what else he could say on the topic. Luckily, he didn't have to come up with anything else because a wall loomed in front of them, stopping the loners from proceeding.

"Ouch! It's prickly!" Ice swept a paw over her nose, glaring at the dark mass. "Fffft! You saw it jump out and attack me, right, Rip?"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you walked into it. And it's Riptide."

"Eh, whichever."

"Are you referring to my first sentence or my second one?"

"That, too."

"What?"

"What?"

Rip stared in hopeless confusion at Ice, glad she couldn't see his face. "Right. I think this is the wall of the ThunderClan camp."

"And if we've been walking in a straight line, which we haven't, the entrance will be over...here?" Ice shuffled a few feet over, muttered a curse, and vanished from sight. "Wait, no, it's here!"

Rip shook his head and followed the sound of Ice's voice. He hoped that he would be the only one to do so.

He stumbled blindly into the ThunderClan camp behind Ice. She remained thankfully silent.

Rip could make out a few large lumps that were dens and the high bracken wall encircling them. The rain was starting to really take the warmth out of his body, and it didn't help that he could barely see. "Over there," he murmured, nudging Ice towards what he hoped was the freshkill pile.

If ThunderClan hadn't lined their storage pit with leaves, the two squirrels, one bird, and three fish would have been swamped with mud. As it was, they were all pretty clean.

"Take as much as you can carry, and if we can, we'll come back for the rest," Rip said, then bent to pick up the squirrels in his mouth. He swept his gaze across the camp. So far, he didn't think they had been noticed, but he could now just make out a cat sitting several feet to their left, presumably watching over camp. Had he seen them? How could he not see them?

Moving slowly, Rip backed away from the freshkill pile, Ice following with two fish clamped in her jaws. She batted the bird along in front of her, very carefully so she wouldn't lose it. Rip froze as the cat he had spotted moved. Did he move? Or was it a trick of the rain? How had they not been seen?

They had almost made it to the camp entrance when a lightning bolt flashed, illuminating the camp for just long enough. Rip saw the other cat clearly, and the other cat saw Rip. Before he knew what he was doing, the loner had dropped the squirrels, leaped across the distance as if on wings, and knocked the other cat completely over, pressing a paw to his face in warning. The ThunderClan cat writhed and squealed but soon Ice was at Rip's side, and together they held their opponent down. Rip struck the cat's head as hard as he dared with a hind foot, and the writhing ceased.

"Did you kill him?" Ice sounded horrified. "Oh, StarClan, he's not moving!"

Rip was fairly sure it had not been a death blow. He had practiced that move a lot with Jadefang, but he checked and double-checked to make sure the cat was still breathing. "No, he's fine. C'mon, Ice, let's get the rest of this freshkill out of here."

The rain was starting to lessen by the time they got all six pieces of freshkill out of the camp. Ice scratched the symbol as deeply as she could into the dirt between the unconscious cat and the freshkill pile. They ate what they couldn't carry of the food, then set off towards Highstones with the rest, bellies full, walking in the shallows of the river whenever possible to throw off pursuers.

By the time the sun began to rise, the rain had stopped and some of the clouds were clearing. Ice and Rip found the WindClan camp and left the remaining bird, fish, and two squirrels by the entrance. Ice wanted to leave a symbol there too so WindClan would know who the gift came from, but Rip said that their scents would be enough. In reality, he just wanted to leave before they were found by another WindClan patrol, but either way, they had soon left most of the territory behind them.

Rip scented the air. Something foul and acrid was nearby, and a steady roaring grew in volume as they walked on. Finally, they came upon the source.

"The Thunderpath," Ice said, and Rip couldn't tell if she was scared or awed or determined or some mix of the three.

Rip watched a great big monster roar past, the color of the river on a cloudy day. He shrank back into the bracken by the side of the path, wondering if monsters could see or smell or if they ever left their course to pursue cats. He had never seen anything like this.

Ice walked fearlessly to the edge of the Thunderpath and calmly followed each monster with her eyes. The noise must have been deafening that close, but the young loner showed no signs of discomfort. When it had gone a second or more without a passing monster, Ice said, "Now," and began to trot briskly across the black stone.

Rip stared after her for a moment, then broke out of his trance and raced after her. The stone felt oddly sticky to his paws and radiated a stench like no other he had ever encountered. When he was halfway across and Ice nearly to the other side, he heard the telltale roar of an approaching monster. He yelled pointlessly to Ice and forced his legs to move faster, his paws thudding painfully on the rough black surface. When he was only a few feet from the edge, he lunged and tumbled onto pleasantly grassy ground next to Ice, who was laughing so hard she fell over, unable to keep herself standing.

Rip scowled and looked back at the Thunderpath, where only just now did the monster rumble past. He shook himself free of dust then stuck his nose in the air and stalked away, making Ice laugh even harder.

"You would've panicked too," he told her, trying to sound dignified but hitting more near the mark of cross and irritated. Ice just smiled and shook her head.

* * *

"I never thought I'd be here," Ice whispered to Rip. "Wait, that's not true, I thought I'd go some day, but it was one of those things where you know that you'll do it, but you don't really feel like it'll ever happen. Have you ever had that?"

"Spoiling the moment," growled Rip.

They were standing in front of High Stones after a long journey. They had gotten lost twice, been chased by a dog, saved by a brown tabby loner, and led by said loner until the Highstones came in view.

"Well," said Ice, exhaling loudly, "I guess we can wait around until nightfall. It isn't that far away now."

Rip nodded, noting that the sun was touching the horizon. "I'll catch something to eat." He didn't invite Ice because she hadn't been taught how to hunt much besides fish yet. He wondered if he should teach her, but the thought made him uncomfortable. He was already ordering her around enough. Maybe later, when he was warrior age.

It was nightfall by the time he returned with a single mouse. "This was all I could find," Rip told Ice, who said nothing but ate her half quickly. Soon, it was time to enter Mothermouth.

Ice hesitated at the tunnel entrance. Would there be multiple passageways? Could you get lost? What if they spent the rest of their lives wandering around lightless tunnels? Rip cleared his throat impatiently, and Ice pushed her fears aside and strode forward into the darkness.

She needn't have worried. The path was straight and clear, even if she couldn't see it. The darkness, total and complete, unnerved her, but she kept walking down the sloping tunnel.

Soon, the long corridor began to wind back and forth, looping in circles, turning from side to side. But there were no branching tunnels, and the floor was always slanting downwards. Ice had a brief moment of panic when something brushed her pelt, but it was only the rough stone wall. The passage had begun to narrow.

"Not much farther now, I should think," came Rip's voice behind her, sounding strangely loud in the dark, thin, and deathly quiet tunnel. However loud or echoing the comment came out, her friend's voice comforted Ice. She was not alone in the darkness.

Actually, the darkness wasn't so complete. If she squinted, she could make out the rough texture of the tunnel walls, and soon she didn't have to squint at all.

_The tunnel is coming to an end,_ she thought. It must be the Moonstone giving off the light. Nothing else was so white, not in the dead of night.

They rounded one final corner, and Ice gasped, her eyes watering painfully from the brightness.

"What?" came Rip's voice. He was still in the tunnel, and Ice was blocking it. She hurriedly moved out of his way, and he gasped too.

The cavern (for Ice thought it too large and grand to be called a cave) was big, with very rough stone walls that slanted upwards and over their heads, but never quite meeting at the top. The chamber was open to the sky, barely, with a wide chink in the roof through which the stars could be seen. In the center was the Moonstone.

It was about three times Ice's height, a gleaming, roughly-faceted crystal pointed at the top and blazing fiercly with white light to rival the moon. It glittered from within as though containing many stars, and Ice wildly thought for a moment that it must contain the souls of all of StarClan.

"Well," said Rip in a whisper, and Ice got the feeling that had he not been squinting against the light, his eyes would be wide in awe. "Well, that's not something you see every day."

Ice ignored him and settled into a comfortable position next to the great stone. She felt awkward and guilty, as if she were doing something not aloud. She was neither leader nor medicine cat; what was she doing here? She had impulsively gone to the Moonstone for guidance that she probably had no right to ask. Was there a rule against other cats going to Highstones? She had never heard of one, and leaders usually took a guard of cats with them when visiting the Moonstone. But actually sharing dreams with StarClan? Was that...right? Ah, who cared? She would find out soon enough. She pressed her nose to the Moonstone as she had heard you were supposed to do and closed her eyes, vaguely aware of Rip adopting a similar position beside her. She hoped StarClan would grant her an audience. Her last thought before drifting off was wondering who among her Clan mates she might see that night, when they had been alive and well before the attack.

* * *

Rip was standing on the WindClan moors, puzzled. Hadn't he just been at the Moonstone with Ice? Was this a dream? It certainly felt real. The wind, the tough grass beneath his paws, the smell of heather. But the sky...It was black, dotted with stars. This in itself wasn't strange, except the landscape before him was lit as if by the sun. He shook his head; this must be a dream. His suspicions were confirmed when three cats appeared before him with a swirl of starry dust. They seemed real enough save for the bright gleam in their eyes and the faint sparkle that clung to their pelts.

Rip recognized the cats. Goldenblaze, his mother, had died when he was only a few moons old in a fox attack. Mistfire was the medicine cat from when he was a kit, and Brookpelt was the deputy who had died only a moon ago. All three now stood before him, dusky bronze, gray shot with red, and silver-black in color.

"Hello." His voice came out as a whisper. He didn't know what else to say.

Goldenblaze stepped forward and licked his ear. "Oh, Rainpaw. I am so proud of you."

Rip lifted his head. "It's Riptide now. I am a loner."

Brookpelt shook her head. "You never were. You remain separate from your Clan, but you are still loyal to them. And you have Mistpaw."

"But RiverClan is gone," said Rip. "I don't know where. We are alone until we find them, or until they find us."

"Not alone," said Goldenblaze. "You have us."

"Very StarClanish and profound of you," Mistfire sniffed. "But we cannot catch prey or help in battle." She turned to Rip. "Riptide, is it? Oh, I remember being told about the tides. Sweep you off your feet, yes. May you do the same to your enemies. A good name."

Rip nodded, too confused to speak.

"Hold on to Mistpaw," Brookpelt urged him. "Don't let her go off, for you will need her as much as she needs you. Without each other, your mission will fail."

"Do you think we made the right choice?" asked Rip, desperate for someone to tell him this. "Was it okay to abandon our search for RiverClan? What if they need us?"

"I can assure you that you do your Clan more good fighting ThunderClan than cowering under a wet bridge somewhere," said Mistfire, "if that is what you meant."

"You're doing well," Goldenblaze assured him. "Talk to WindClan and ShadowClan. Get them to work alongside you. Help bring them together, for only in this way can you defeat Ravenstar."

"Ooh, mystic bonds of friendship!" sang Mistfire. "Trust me, Riptide, you could do it by yourself, maybe with Mistpaw to help you. Sneak into ThunderClan camp as you did last night, find your way to the leader's den, and have a nice little chat. Or just a quick bite at the base of the neck would do."

Rip felt slightly ill. He didn't think he could kill anyone, let alone someone who was sleeping.

"Mistfire!" That was Brookpelt, sounding aghast. "How terrible!"

"I knew we shouldn't have brought her along," growled Goldenblaze. "Rai-Riptide, don't listen to her."

"Well, of course not," Mistfire said thoughtfully. "That deputy of his would just take his place. Maybe a full-scale battle would be best. Teach 'em a lesson."

"I..." Rip said. "I don't know if they'll listen to me. Firestar and Starstar. I'm just an apprentice... Not even that. And..." he trailed off.

"They will listen to you," said Brookpelt. "They will listen because they have to. Because StarClan compels them to. Because you are living proof of what ThunderClan can do. Because you have shown your strength, your will to survive.

Mistfire muttered something about "mystic, mean-nothing, cryptic musings". But Rip was still comforted. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Goldenblaze hesitated. "Well...in ThunderClan, there are those who-"

"Enough!" hissed Mistfire. "It is not our place to tell." She smiled drily at Rip. "You must find that out for yourself. Goodbye now."

The whole scene began to fade and darken.

"Riptide, I love you!" called Golden blaze.

"Wait!" Rip shouted. "I still have questions! Am I doing the right thing? What should I do next?"

The moor was already black, but he thought he heard Mistfire yell, "La la la can't hear you!"

Then he woke with a start to Ice's wail of despair.


	6. Why Ice Will Hate Shinies Forever

She was drowning. The icy water was turbulent, throwing her around and holding her under. She didn't know which way was up, she didn't know where the surface was. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, could hardly move.

_This would be a stupid way to_ _die,_ thought Ice. She was an excellent swimmer. She had been born for the water and trained for it her whole life.

Her lungs were bursting. She was desperate and knew she didn't have long. Her mind was fogging over and everything tingled faintly. Her paw hit something solid. The bottom? Ice scrabbled weakly at it, but there was nothing she could do. She was dying, maybe already dead. She wondered if she would see anyone surprising in StarClan, people she hadn't known were dead.

Suddenly, she felt pressure on her scruff. There was a sense of being pulled quickly, and then Ice was coughing and sputtering on solid ground. When she could breathe, she looked up, but the world was going strangely dark. _What if I _am_ dying? _She just made out a cat's face, grey and shorthaired, before the scene faded completely.

"I am sorry for the dream, kitten, but you needed to see that."

She wasn't on the banks of the river. She was in the old RiverClan camp, sitting comfortably (and dry) behind the nursery. In front of her was-

"Mother?"

Ice was confused. Why was she dreaming this? How had her mother come to her in this fantasy?

"Mistpaw."

"Why am I here? How can you be in my dreams?"

"Mistpaw."

"What?"

"Mistpaw, this is StarClan."

Ice stopped breathing. It wasn't a conscious decision, she just forgot to keep breathing, or maybe she forgot how to breathe."No," she said, but it came out as a tiny whisper of a word. She was falling. She was drowning all over again. "No! You can't be dead! I-I-"

"Oh, kitten, I'm so sorry you had to learn this way. It was the rains that did it. You know I never recovered from my second litter, and a wave of Greencough swept our camp. I-"

"No!" Ice wailed. "You can't! I lost my home, my Clan, my own name! You can't be gone too!" She threw herself flat on the ground with a howl of despair. "Why? Why? Why?"

Snowfall waited for her daughter to calm down a hair, then stepped closer and curled herself around the fallen apprentice. She washed her behind the ears and murmured soft words to her, until Ice asked, "Am...am I dead, too, then?"

Snowfall stopped washing. "No. This is a dream. You did well to come to Mothermouth. I have some things to tell you. WindClan and ShadowClan together can force ThunderClan back into their own territories. Silverstar is convinced that Ravenstar is unstoppable, so she won't lead RiverClan back to the forest until a messenger comes."

Ice moaned something inaudible, thinking, _Why? Why me, why Mother, why am I supposed to deal with this? _How _am I supposed to deal with this?_ "What should I do?" she said out loud, trying to regain her composure. She sat up and tried to keep the expression of despair from her face.

Snowfall stood up and began to pace. "What you have been doing is good, I am told. You have helped begin the forging of a Wind- and ShadowClan alliance. Focus on that more than the raids although-" She tilted her head, as if listening. "Do not abandon the raids entirely. Hit-and-run is good. Listen to Riptide-wonderful name, that-but do not let him start giving orders. He's too young. You both are. Only by working together can you do this task." Snowfall gazed at Ice with pride. "Runningblaze would have been so proud of you. He is, actually."

"Can I meet him?" asked Ice eagerly. She had always wanted to know her father.

"Soon. But for now, focus on the task at paw." Snowfall licked Ice behind the ear once more. "Goodnight, kitten. I must go, and you must wake."

"Wait!" cried Ice, springing to her feet. Snowfall turned and began to walk away. In desperation, Ice sprang forward and seized her with two paws. "Wait! I havce to know: Was this task appointed to me? Or did I choose it?" It was like the symbol-she felt this was vitally important somehow, but she couldn't say why.

Snowfall and the RiverlClan camp began to fade. "Sometimes there is no difference," she whispered before the scene went black.

"No! Mother, come back!" Ice tightened her grip, but there was nothing to grasp, and she fell through darkness. "No! I-No!"

Suddenly there was light, too much light, and there was something caught in her paws again. "Ice!" came a voice. "Ice, what's wrong?"

Riptide. He sounded so scared. She vaguely wondered what dreams he had, but she was preoccupied with crying out in pain. The light of the Moonstone was too bright, and her paws seemed stuck to it by her front claws.

"Ice?"

"Rip, help!"

He was at her side now, wrenching a paw away from the cold stone surface. When at last she fast free, Ice ran.

It was not a conscious decision. She just had to get away from the bright light, the stifling cave, the memories of her dead mother. _Out_ was the only word left with meaning for Ice. She sprinted up the sloping passageway, bruised her nose on a sharp turn (or eight), and was just on the edge of a complete breakdown in the darkness when she burst from the tunnel into beautiful, glorious, golden morning light. She stood near the mouth for a moment, taking in the view, breathing the fresh air, before she turned slowly back to the tunnel where Rip was standing, looking absolutely stunned and a little frightened. "Ice?" He took a step forward. "What's wrong?"_  
_

Ice breathed in. She breathed out. She looked Rip in the eye. "My mother is..." She stopped before her traitorous voice broke.

"You...you saw her? In StarClan?"

Ice nodded, then turned away. She heard Rip say something behind her, but it was all a meaningless jumble of noise. She could ignore it.

She didn't, though.

* * *

Rip watched Ice carefully. She seemed fine, at least outwardly. She seemed even older now, and sometime during their journey back to the forest she had shed her grief and donned a robe of anger. Her expression intensified and rage radiated from her._ Let her be angry,_ thought Rip. _Anger is a tool. Volatile, easily lost control of, but has a keener edge that most other emotions._ He liked that thought. A nice bit of wisdom, especially for someone so young. Ice could use her anger. She _would_ use it.

Which was the reason for Rip's watchfulness. Ice didn't seem reckless; she waited patiently at the Thunderpath and even cautioned Rip not to cross at a short break. Still Rip watched. From the few words they exchanged during the journey, he could tell that there was no immediate danger of her going crazy and trying to avenge her mother's death. By the time they were well into WindClan territory, he had relaxed.

"Where should we settle, do you think?" Ice asked. They were at Fourtrees, and Rip knew that this topic needed addressing as soon as possible. It had waited until after they'd caught an afternoon meal, and it shouldn't wait any longer.

"Somewhere by the river," he said, thinking of how much easier food would be.

"That's where they'll expect us to be," Ice reminded him. "Once we really come out into the open, they'll be looking for us."

How had she gotten this smart without him noticing? Or was he just being an idiot, overlooking important things like that? "Somewhere near here, then?" he asked, nodding at the four great trees and the high rocky ledge.

Ice considered this. "Centrally located. Not too far from the river. As long as we aren't too close to the clearing itself, we should be fine. How about a WindClan part?"

Ice nodded. "Good. Very good. We should look for a nice spot now. Maybe somewhere within hearing distance of the river? It has a pretty sound. And if we lived by the falls, imagine what we'd wake up to each morning! Fwoooosh!"

Rip's whiskers twitched. This was the true Ice. Suddenly he realized something. "The gorge. We could live in the gorge. There are paths that go down, and I've seen a cave or two there."

Ice thought about this. "Well," she said, "It would be dangerous at night."

"We can be careful."

"Just imagine," Ice laughed, "if we found a cave behind the waterfall. Wouldn't that be such a perfect hide out?"

"No, it'd be too wet," answered Rip absentmindedly. He was thinking about ThunderClan's planned attack on WindClan. Had it happened yet? Would Starstar come to Firestar's aid? How could he and Ice help?

"Helloooo, is anyone home?" sang Ice, reaching forward to rap on Rip's head. "I mean, really! You're being very spacey."

Rip blinked. "Oh, uh, sorry. I was thinking about the...coming battle."

Ice sighed in exasperation. "Well, stop it. Enough gloomy stuff. We need a base of operation!" She rose to her paws and raced eagerly towards the edge of the clearing.

"Um, Ice?"

She turned. "What now?"

"The gorge is that way."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again with a tiny _click_. "I knew that," she muttered as she stalked past him.

It was only a matter of minutes before they reached the gorge. Finding a way down was another matter. The sides were as sheer and ragged as ever, and though Rip could see a half dozen outcroppings, ledges, and even what looked like a worn trail, they couldn't find anywhere to begin the descent. They scoured the northern edge and found nothing that could serve as a path. Rip became increasingly agitated the farther they roamed into Ravenstar's borders. At any minute, a patrol could sneak up behind them as they had so many (two) times before. They even saw a band of three cats with ThunderClan scent, but luckily weren't spotted or smelled themselves.

Finally, Ice suggested that they follow the gorge to where its walls receded into the ground and try to find a path up from the bottom. Rip agreed, but was nervous about going so far into their enemy's territory. The route was a long one, and twice they had to hide from a cat or a patrol. The second time they were nearly spotted, but a mouse distracted the suspicious cat and he left without checking behind the oddly loud ferns. Soon, Ice and Rip walked along the stony shore of the river at the bottom of the gorge, this time on the RiverClan side.

The rocks were sharp and occasionally loose enough to slide around. The two loners picked their way with care.

"I'm starting to think," Ice commented, scanning the surrounding walls, "that this ultra-top-secret base idea is really not worth all the fuss. Why can't we have a nice impenetrable fortress of briars on the WindClan moor with big stones out front bearing our symbol? It would be so much easier."

"Do you really want to live in a fortress of briars?" Rip asked.

"Well, of course, we'd have softer stuff on the inside. We could cover the walls with grass and leaves and have nice moss beds, maybe with something fluffy for extra padding like they have in the nursery. Had. Like feathers! And fur. And the giant stones out front would signify who lives in the awesome palace, of course. Hey-maybe we could smear mulberries onto the rocks in the form of our symbol. Because it would be hard to carve a rock. Right, Rip?"

"What?" He had glazed over at "grass and leaves".

"Ooh, look!" squealed Ice. "I think I see a way up!"

Rip shook himself out of his daze, found that he had stepped on a very sharp rock, and sighed as Ice raced up ahead. She sprang suddenly into the air, landed with absolutely no grace on a small ledge, and scrambled up a boulder with a wide, flat top. She perched there and looked back at Rip, cocking her head and looking for all the world like a big gray bird. "Coming?"

Rip leaped onto the ledge as Ice had done, then looked up at her. "Where are you going, again?"

"I don't know. What fun! Oh, there's another ledge!" She leaped into the air again and vanished from Rip's view. He followed her as best he could, clawing his way to the top of the boulder and jumping onto a wide shelf next to Ice. To his left, the shelf slanted steeply upwards, and to his right, the path was blocked by a mid-sized boulder. Ice was leaning around it, trying to see the other side.

"Hey, Ice, the path goes _that_ way." Out of curiosity, Rip looked down. He wished he hadn't, but now that he was looking, he couldn't tear his eyes away. They were _much_ farther up than he had thought. It was mostly a straight drop down, except for the rather pointy-looking boulders at the bottom. He pulled his gaze away, feeling slightly queasy. _This was a bad idea._ "Ice, come on. Whatever is-"

That's when she slipped and fell.

"ICE!"

Instead of plummeting, however, she twisted and grabbed something Rip couldn't see. Her back paws dangled over the drop. "Hwrow," she muttered. She didn't seem to be alarmed. "Hey-Hey, Rip! I found a cave!" She pulled herself up on the unseen object and disappeared behind the boulder.

"What did you-Why-? You know what? Never mind." He moved closer to the boulder and saw a thick, gnarled root that arched sideways around the rock. He hesitated, then edged his way onto it. Rip wasn't scared of heights, but that didn't mean he was an idiot. He did _not _want "Rip" to stand for "Rest In Pieces". The root held just fine, and his balance was good. He made it around the boulder with no problem. Ice waited for him impatiently on the other side. "Look! Behold, the wonders of the IceCave!"

"'IceCave'? You can't just name...wow." Rip had to admit, this was a pretty nice secret base. The entrance to the cave was partially covered by a large slab of rock with just enough space for a cat to slide through. From farther away, it looked like any old chunk of rock on the canyon wall, but inside was a large, scooped-out chamber with a sandy floor. It stretched back several feet with a gradually sloping ceiling.

"This must have been hollowed out by the river a long time ago," Rip said out loud, squirming into the dark room.

Ice followed close behind him. "Yes, I know I rock. Heh. Now who's making bad puns? What did you say about the river?"

Rip pressed his nose to the smooth, uneven surface of the wall. "I said this cave was carved out by the river."

"Oh, yeah. How long did that take? It must have been a looooong time ago. I mean, the canyon is only what, ten times as deep as this is long? And the canyon has been here for, like, ever." She studied the walls. "How far do you think the river can keep wearing down the bottom of the gorge? Can a river wear a hole in the world?"

Rip stared at Ice as well as the dim lighting allowed. "When did you get so smart and philosophical?" He instantly wished he hadn't said it, but Ice seemed not to take any offence.

"I like thinking about this sort of thing. Do you think there are holes in the world where rivers once were?"

"I...I don't know," Rip said. "I'm not sure the world is old enough for that. How can you tell how old the world is, anyway?" He turned back to Ice, then did a double-take. "Are-Are you _glowing?_"

Ice looked down at herself and yelped. She had unsheathed her claws to knead the fine sand, and her claws were bright and silvery. She scrambled back a step, ran into the cave wall, and swatted her paws repeatedly on the ground. "What the-? Great StarClan above! I-Why are my claws-?!" She looked desperately at Rip. "You see this, too, right? I'm not crazy?"

Rip was staring with wild eyes at the silvery claws. "Seeing and not believing. What did you _do?_" He unsheathed his own claws, checking to make sure they weren't glowing like a StarClan-

Ice seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. "The Moonstone! When I got stuck, and...oh, why?" She examined a paw. "Actually, this is kinda cool."

"Well," said Rip weakly. "That's something you don't see every day. Can I just sayHOW IN THE NAME OF STARCLAN-"

"Shh! Don't shout in here; it echoes too much! Okay, so I have glowing claws. Great. Excellent. Why?"

"They're pretty," Rip offered, then winced at how dumb and stupid that sounded. "And, uh, useful. I mean, they give us a little light."

Ice moved a paw into the light. "They look sort of normal in the sun, but they do have a faint glitter to them. It'll be a hassle while doing a night raid."

"Can they...I mean, do they do anything other than glow?"

Ice flexed her claws a couple of times, then without warning, she slashed the cave wall. Rip yelped as sparks flashed, then stared in amazement at four lines etched in the cave wall, glowing very faintly before fading entirely.

"Nice," Ice said happily. "I sense a new era dawning for the Ice & Rip Official Logo. This'll puzzle 'em to no end! Scratched into cave walls, boulders. It'll be excellent."

Rip could only keep staring.

* * *

**_Nim here-Wow, okay, I think two weeks is a little long to wait for each chapter. I'm setting myself a new goal of one per week (TRANSLATION: You will probably get another chapter ten days from now. Or fifteen). And how about those Moonclaws? Completely random, right? Good. A brief word about the geography: I am mostly going by the map at the front of the books, so if I'm getting important features absolutely WRONG all you insanely rabid Warriors fans can post angry comments in all caps if you like. But I probably won't change it (yay, Fan Fiction Author's License!). As always, HUGE thank-you to everyone posting comments and reviews and stuff-you're the people who keep me writing! Also, I'm debating on whether or not to add some romance to this story (it'll be good practice for me), and I'm not saying whether or not it's Ice/Rip or something else. So if you want to take a stand on that, feel free to leave a bit at the end of your comment (please don't just post "yea ice3rip"). Thank you!  
_**

**_Review replies:_**

**_Jaysong: I'm glad you like the story! Thanks for staying with Ice and Rip! I hope you liked this update!_**

**_Fading Shadows: Thanks for the review! I call Riptide "Rip" in the story because that's how Ice thinks of him, and although he would never admit it, that's how Rip has come to think of himself. I originally was going to name him "Havoc", but I think "Ice and Rip" is catchier :)_**


	7. Ice and Fire

It was difficult to reach the new base. The boulder in the way of the path wasn't a problem once Ice had chiseled paw-holds into it with her new Moonclaws, but the long bit of gorge they had to walk or swim down to reach the point where they could begin to climb was annoying. Still, there was no question of whether or not the place was suitable. It was large, well-camouflaged, and in an area that most cats saw no point in venturing to. There were fish in the river and hunger was suddenly a thing of the past.

The next day, Ice woke from a beautifully dreamless sleep to find Rip still flopped next to the cave entrance. She nosed past him and padded out into the sunlight.

Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Ice saw it.

She wheeled around and dashed back into the cave. "Rip!" she cried, shaking him with a paw. "Wake up!"

"Whas happen?" he mumbled, then leaped to his feet. "Are we under attack? Did someone fall into the gorge? Are you injured?"

"No, no, and yes, but it's healing, remember? Oh, and there is a whole _legion _of ThunderClan warriors on the other side of the gorge! They're heading into WindClan territory!"

"Bad," Rip decided. He scurried past Ice to look for himself. "I can only see the tail end of their force. "How many are there? Twenty?"

"About two dozen," Ice corrected. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"

"No," Rip muttered. He ducked back inside and began to pace. "One of us could go to ShadowClan and tell them that Ravenstar's pulled out the stops. If they come, ThunderClan could be driven back."

"And the other?" Ice asked. "Would they run ahead to warn WindClan?"

"Something like that," Rip said.

Ice knew which role he wanted her to take. "Rip. We're in the gorge. We'd have to go all the way back out and around and then ThunderClan will already have arrived."

"No. They were moving slowly. They had a lot of cats with them; there might be time. But we should start moving now."

Ice scowled but followed him out of the cave, down the rocks, and into the river. They began to swim like mad cats, which Ice supposed they were. _Everyone is,_ she thought without humor.

The rocky walls around them began to angle downwards, and soon they vanished into the ground. Ice and Rip swum ashore and, without pausing to shake themselves, began to run.

"You take Starstar, I'll go to WindClan!" Rip shouted, angling back up the way the ThunderClan cats had gone.

Ice growled in response. Sneaky little...! He had done this on purpose, knowing full well that she wanted to be part of the battle. And also knowing full well that once they were running, she wouldn't waste time arguing. With a sigh, she changed course for the Thunderpath.

She was a fast runner, despite her small size. It took her a short time to reach the border, but it felt like hours. She waited impatiently at the edge of the Thunderpath and darted across fearlessly when she spotted a gap. The hot black stone seemed to pull at her paws and slow her down.

Ice broke free of the path and kept running, keeping a sharp eye out for holes and marshy areas. She had never been in ShadowClan territory before, and everything smelled strange and sour, like freshkill turned to crowfood. Even though the sun was out, she shivered. She could see why all the Clans were prejudiced against the ShadowClan cats.

She had only a vague idea of where the camp was, so her lungs were bursting and her paws were sore and shaking when she stumbled through a thicket of brambles and found herself staring into the eyes of a very surprised dark-colored warrior. Ice collected her wits faster and began to say, "I come with-" but was interrupted when the cat lunged for her throat.

* * *

Rip was gasping for breath. He had never run so far or so fast in his short life. His whole body shuddered with each heartbeat and trembled with each step. But he could see his quarry coming up fast. He would need to go around somehow, and since the two parties were now racing along the moors, this would be a challenge.

As he came up behind the ThunderClan warriors, he slowed his pace, dropped into a hunting crouch, and navigated his way through the heather and bracken in as low of a stance as he could. Encouraged by the lack of yowls and cries, he picked up the pace until he was running again, slower, but still faster than the main body of the enemy warriors. They were walking to conserve strength and even stopping on occasion to spray their scent.

_That was easy,_ Rip thought. He remained in his low-slung position, contemplating the fact that their might have been a dozen other cats sneaking along in the scruffy brush a few feet from him and he'd never know.

Rip knew exactly where to find the WindClan camp. Unfortunately, so did Ravenstar's warriors. He risked poking his nose up above the level of scrub, satisfied that ThunderClan remained quite a ways behind him now. WindClan wouldn't have much of a warning, but they wouldn't be caught completely unprepared. Rip could see the camp now, and he briefly considered breaking cover to make a final sprint and then dismissed the idea. If ThunderClan didn't know they were expected, so much the better.

The gorse tunnel engulfed him suddenly and the smell of cut heather followed shortly. Then, he burst into open space again, within the camp.

Most cats were just waking up. Firestar was organizing patrols near the center and a low murmur prevailed throughout the camp. All noise and motion ceased as Rip staggered into the light. They stared at him. He drew himself up and spoke loudly and clearly to all gathered. "ThunderClan. They're coming, twenty strong at least." His muscles shook and his breath came too fast, but still he stood and waited for a reaction.

"You're that crazy apprentice from the Gathering!" someone yowled.

"My name is Riptide," Rip growled.

Firestar took a good look at Rip, then glanced over his shoulder at another cat, sleek and cream-colored. She looked at Rip and nodded. "Prepare for battle," the leader ordered.

A sense of purpose settled over Rip. He walked towards the gathered cats, some of whom were protesting their leader's decision, others rushing in and out of dens leading sleepy warriors and apprentices to their stations.

"Riptide," Firestar said to him, "for your sake I hope you tell the truth, but really I'd prefer it if you were lying. We cannot withstand twenty warriors."

"My friend went to ask Starstar for assistance," Rip said. "If we hold out until they arrive, we can still win."

"I have maybe eight warriors and six apprentices in fighting condition, not including you and me. We'll be overrun." Firestar studied the small cat. "Station yourself near the entrance if you're a good fighter and towards the back of camp if you're as young as you look."

Rip nodded and walked to a position by a side wall where he stood catching his breath. He listened in amazement as the level of noise in the camp went from chaotic screech-fest to battle-ready silence in several seconds. RiverClan had never been this organized.

The queens, kits, and elders all grouped together in a hollow log with a guard or two at each end. The rest of the cats spread out through the camp and ringed the perimeter with a large clump by the entrance.

"Normally we block that up for a battle," an apprentice next to Rip whispered, gesturing towards the gorse tunnel, "but we haven't the time, so they're putting some brambles in there as a deterrent."

Rip appreciated the chatter. It helped take his mind off the battle that was sure to go badly wrong in a few minutes. He had pretended for Ice, making it seem like he had been in a lot of battles. He _was _an older apprentice after all. But the truth of the matter was he had only ever fought in two border skirmishes, and one of those he had been a participant in a "tactical retreat" shortly thereafter. He was having to breathe very slowly in order to keep from hyperventilating.

"My camp was on an island," Rip said. "Usually that was all the fortification we needed."

They both fell silent as a chorus of yowls and battle cries were issued from outside the wall. There was a yelp and a _shhhka-shhhhka_ noise. Apparently someone had discovered the brambles wedged in the gorse tunnel.

The first cat to enter the camp came over the wall, crashing through a bit at the top and landing with a _thump_ among a group of apprentices, who cheerfully mobbed him into submission.

Then there were shouts and wails from the entrance and a pair of cats burst free of the bottleneck and raced into the camp. Three more came over the walls. Rip leaped forward to engage the one closest to him, ducking under a swing and ramming full-tilt into the larger cat's stomach.

Something crashed into his back half and pinned him, but before the first cat could recover his wind, Rip's new apprentice pal charged with a howl and sank his teeth into the second warrior's ear. The loner wriggled free and lunged at the cat he had rammed. The black-and-white tom was recovered, though, and raked his claws across Rip's face. The tom blinked. "You're that one cat! The one who was in our camp the other night and stole our freshkill!"

Rip looked at his opponent warily, trying to ignore the stinging pain and the blood dripping into his eye. "And you're that wussy kittypet that I knocked out cold with one good swing. I remember now."

The ThunderClan warrior howled in outrage and lunged, stretching out his claws.

Rip was ready. He crouched, waited until the other cat had just landed on his back, then pushed upwards with all his might, as if jumping to a far-away stepping stone. The larger cat's own momentum added to that was enough to send him flying. He landed awkwardly and by that time, the smaller loner was on top of him, clawing and biting for all he was worth. Once he was thrown, he sprang back to his feet and commenced circling his opponent.

"You don't give up easily, do you?" Rip said, keeping an eye out for anyone coming up behind him. Most of the fighting was in the front of camp, but it was slowly working its way back.

"Where's your prissy little accomplice?" snarled the ThunderClan cat, flicking blood from his torn ear. "She ditch you for a kittypet yet?"

Rip looked suddenly beyond his foe. His green eyes went wide and his whiskers twitched. "She's doing a nice job flanking. Look behind you."

The tom whipped around, and then Rip was on top of him again.

"Great StarClan!" Rip growled, delivering a kick or bite with each word. "That is the oldest trick in the history of the world, and _you_, my friend, are the biggest sucker in twice that time."

The tom shook him off again, this time running straight at and then through the camp wall, trailing blood.

Rip double-teamed a ThunderClan apprentice with a WindClan warrior, then took a good look around. WindClan was losing warriors at an alarming rate and were being pushed back towards the far wall of the camp.

He was just about to dash back into the fray when a paw came out of nowhere and smashed into his already-injured face. Rip staggered, shook blood out of his eyes, and tried without success to ward off a second blow, which took him to the ground. He lashed out blindly with his claws, managed to elicit a howl, but then something large and heavy landed on top of him, pinning Rip to the ground.

He struggled, but another blow made him dazed and before he could recover another cat came to help hold him down.

Finally, he managed to shake the blood out of his eyes. He went limp, then began to struggle with a fierce desperation, yowling Ice's favorite curses at his captors.

A black cat with one white paw approached slowly and deliberately. Rip recognized him. He had seen Ravenstar on three occasions before. He redoubled his curses.

Ravenstar halted by the three cats, two of which held down the raving loner. "You're much smaller than I thought," the leader said, sounding disappointed. "I thought we might actually have something to be concerned about. Certainly you made me quite angry, warning WindClan of my impeding attack not once but twice. How did you know, I wonder? And then you had the wherewithal to actually _steal_ from my camp."

Ravenstar leaned closer. "And where's your...friend? She's not here; we know that much."

"Behind you," Rip growled, jerking his head in that direction, then spat blood in the leader's face.

Ravenstar hissed softly and wiped it away. "Do you know what we do to spies and thieves in ThunderClan, _Riptide_?"

And without warning, he laid Rip open from shoulder to hip.

* * *

Ice ducked and the ShadowClan cat stumbled past. "Stop!" she yowled. "I'm a messenger! _Don't kill the messenger!_"

The warrior hesitated. The other cats in camp glared at her suspiciously. "Well?" someone yowled.

"WindClan is under attack," Ice said, searching out Starstar and staring him in the eye. "They can't possibly win alone and they need your help." Her breath was coming in short gasps.

"Well, gee, I guess we should just run off and lend them a paw like good neighbors," drawled an ash-gray tom near the front.

"Shut up, Stormclaw," growled Starstar. He turned back to Ice. "You're one of the two Clanless apprentices that spat on Ravenstar last Gathering, right?"

Ice nodded, hoping this was a good development.

Starstar thought about this. "I suppose we could go help with the battle. Help WindClan, I mean."

"She might be lying," offered Stormclaw. "Getting us to leave our camp undefended."

"Without WindClan at our side, ThunderClan doesn't need clever ruses to defeat us. All they have to do is show up," pointed out a calico she-cat.

"Alright," said Starstar, sounding bored, "I suppose we go. _ShadowClan, assemble!_ Lionfang, Spottedpaw, Dapplepath, stay behind in camp. Everyone else without kits and with full use of all limbs and eyes, you're with me. Move on!"

ShadowClan warriors and apprentices streamed past Ice, heading out into the swampy marsh. She stood amazed at the speed at which they had moved, staring openly at the rapidness they had shown.

"Coming, loner?" yowled Stormclaw. Ice shook herself out of her daze and ran after the procession.

The patrol moved swiftly, but Ice could feel each and every moment slipping past like water. She kept wondering what would happen if they were too late. Could ShadowClan's force defeat Ravenstar's weakened army without WindClan's help? What would they do next?

What if Rip was dead?

Ice shook her head until the thought drained out. _Running. Focus on running._ This was taking too long. She needed to get there _now_, not after she wasted all this time sprinting around the forest.

They were on the moor now. She could see the camp coming up. Faint battle-cries and screeches issued from within the battered heather and gorse walls. Hope surged within Ice. They weren't too late. They could still win.

Starstar was issuing orders, instructing some cats to go around and find holes in the wall and others to go straight through the tunnel into the fray. If any commands were directed at the gray loner, she chose not to hear them. She didn't lessen her pace at all as she aimed for the entrance. She scraped one side on some brambles (who lines their camp entrance with brambles?!) and burst into the camp.

For a moment, she thought, _Oh, it _is _too late._ There were maybe nine warriors and apprentices in a half-circle near the back of camp, fending off at least twice as many ThunderClan cats. Ice gave a whoop and charged the nearest enemy.

The she-cat Ice aimed for had no time to turn around. One minute she was slicing up an apprentice and the next she had a mouthful of dust. Ice tested her new Moonclaws by shredding the warrior's back and shoulders like a dry leaf. The she-cat howled in pain and wrenched free, running as fast as she could out of camp through a hole in the wall. Ice let her go.

ShadowClan warriors poured into the tattered clearing. A few ThunderClan cats fled outright. WindClan's battered forces cheered and attacked with renewed enthusiasm, driving the enemy back a few steps.

Now Ice could see it. The clump of four cats in the back of camp, unnoticed by most. One cat was Ravenstar, sleek and black and regarding everything with perfectly controlled anger. His claws gleamed red.

Rip was pinned to the ground beneath the other two. He was unmoving, blood matting his whole left side, thick and pooling on the dusty ground.

She became her own name.

She could see every fur on Ravenstar's pelt.

She could see his heartbeat as the very faint tremble in his chest.

She could see everything around her in minute detail, but all she heard was her own pulse, a steady thrum in her ears.

She locked eyes with Ravenstar and leaped.

The leader could see her coming. He sprang to meet her, but she put her claws out in front and let momentum tear deep gouges on his face and neck. They tumbled to the ground, and Ice came out on top. She was absolutely cold.

There was only a one-in-nine chance what she was about to do would cause her guilt.

The perfect white Moonclaws turned red.

The two cats sitting on Rip sprang to their paws with a cry, but Ice lifted her head and looked them both in in eye. She was absolutely cold.

They ran.

Ravenstar's eyes were blank and empty. His flank no longer rose and fell, the faint tremble in his chest was gone.

The blood stopped flowing. New skin and fur grew over the cut, and suddenly the eyes blinked; the chest rose, fell, and trembled.

"How many lives do you have, dear Ravenstar?" Ice asked sweetly. "And how many are you willing to bet that you can beat me in a fight?"

Ravenstar rose to his feet. "This isn't over, loner," he hissed. "You will never-"

Ice headbutted him between the eyes as hard as she could. "Less swearing revenge, more leaving. _Now_."

Ravenstar turned tail and ran, calling his warriors after him. ShadowClan and WindClan cheered and taunted and cat-called after them, then fell to laughing and talking amongst each other.

The moment she identified the medicine cat, Ice was at her side and dragging her by the ear over to Rip. The cold anger drained away, leaving only a gaping black abyss of fear.

* * *

_**Nim here- Yes! Update is only three days late! SUCCESS!**_

_**So, getting a bit darker. I tried not to make it too graphic, especially when Ice kills Ravenstar. How many lives does he have left? Mwahahaha, I'll never tell! And now, a cliff-hanger! Except, well, you pretty much know what's going to happen. Or do you? I bet you don't. But trust me, this will lead to one thing, and then another, and then BOOM! you have like half the rest of the plot laid out.**_

_**And yeah, I'll try to keep up with updates (I mean it this time!) I'm just sooo busy, and it's hard to line up "Free Time" with "Time I Feel Like Writing". And sometimes I feel like writing but I feel like writing something besides **__**Ice and Rip**__**. Which means I stay up really late and you get bizarre, half-formed ideas like Moonclaws. Seriously, about 50% of my writing process takes place when I'm half asleep.**_

_**Review Replies:**_

_**Jaysong- Glad you liked the Moonclaws! You never know with RIp, but what he got from his StarClan visit was probably just a huge sense of self-importance :) Hope I updated fast enough!**_

_**Saturn in the Shadows of Space- Glad you like it! Thanks for the review, and I hope you keep enjoying the random stuff I come up with like the Moonclaws :)**_

_**Fading Shadows- O.o I had the EXACT SAME IDEAS! I thought, OK, so everyone is expecting an Ice/Rip romance. Rip falls in love with ThunderClan cat! Thank you sooo much for your thoughts! Now everyone is expecting it, yes, but I hope to surprise them a little...Won't say any more!**_


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